Bhaskar Jyoti Gogoi vs. Union Of INDIA And 3 Ors

WP(C)/6828/2022HC GauhatiGSTCNR GAHC01021535202230 October 2022Bench: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ACHINTYA MALLA BUJOR BARUA3 pages

AI SummaryPartly Allowed

Held

The Court found no infirmity in the action of the respondent authorities in cancelling the GST registration due to non-filing of returns and non-payment of taxes for the specified period. However, the Court also held that an assessee should not be perpetually disabled from conducting business solely due to past non-compliance. Therefore, the Court directed the petitioner to approach the Principal Commissioner, CGST, Guwahati. The Principal Commissioner is to verify the exact amount of tax, interest, and penalty due from the petitioner for the non-filed returns. Upon payment of these dues, the Principal Commissioner shall issue a fresh GST registration to the petitioner within one month of the dues being cleared, enabling them to continue business activities. The issue of whether the petitioner could be granted a fresh registration after clearing dues was decided in favor of the petitioner.

Facts

The petitioner, Bhaskar Jyoti Gogoi, an assessee under the CGST Act, 2017, filed a writ petition challenging the cancellation of his GST registration. The registration was cancelled by an order dated January 19, 2021, due to continuous non-filing of returns from September 2020 to December 2020. The petitioner is aggrieved by this cancellation. The respondent authorities are the Union of India and officials of the Central Goods and Service Tax department.

Key Issues

1. Whether the cancellation of the petitioner's GST registration was justified given the continuous non-filing of returns for the period September 2020 to December 2020. The petitioner argued that while non-filing of returns is an issue, it should not permanently disable them from conducting business. The revenue authorities contended that the cancellation was a consequence of the petitioner's failure to comply with statutory obligations regarding return filing and tax payment. The court had to decide if the petitioner's inability to file returns and pay taxes could lead to a perpetual bar from business.

Sections Cited

CGST Act, 2017

AI-generated summary — verify with the full judgment below

Cause title — parties, addresses and appearances

Page No.# 1/3 GAHC010215352022 THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT (HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH) Case No. : WP(C)/6828/2022 BHASKAR JYOTI GOGOI SON SRI UPENDRA NATH GOGOI, R/O NA-CHEREKAPAR, HATIMURIA GAON, P.O. AND P.S.-CHEREKAPAR, DIST- SIVASAGAR, ASSAM, PIN-785640 VERSUS UNION OF INDIA AND 3 ORS REPRESENTED BY THE SECRETARY TO THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA, DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE 2:THE PRINCIPAL COMMISSIONER OF CENTRAL GOODS AND SERVICE TAX GST BHAWAN KEDAR ROAD GUWAHATI-781001 ASSAM 3:THE ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER CENTRAL GOODS AND SERVICE TAX DIBRUGARH DIVISION DIST- DIBRUGARH ASSAM 4:THE SUPERINTENDENT CENTRAL GOODS AND SERVICE TAX SIVASAGAR DIST- SIVASAGAR ASSA Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. A K GUPTA Advocate for the Respondent : DY.S.G.I. Page No.# 2/3 BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ACHINTYA MALLA BUJOR BARUA

31.10.

2022

Heard Mr. RS Mishra, learned counsel for the petitioner, Mr. SC Keyal, learned counsel for the respondents in the GST and Ms. K Phukan, learned counsel

The judgment continues below.

Read the full judgment

A free account opens 10 full GST judgments a month (one account works on both bharattax.net and this site). Re-reading one you have already opened does not count again.

Create a free account Sign in

See plans and prices

The summary, the parties, the sections and the citations above are open to everyone and always will be. Only the text of the order and the PDF are metered.

Reproduced from the public record of the Gauhati High Court. Verify against the court's own copy before relying on it. Income tax judgments are on bharattax.net.